1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an alarm device that transmits an inquiry to an occupant.
2. Description of Related Art
In late years, various automatic control controls in a vehicle have been discussed. The automatic controls include an automatic system, in which activation of the light before entering into a tunnel, the operation for closing the door window, a change to the recirculation of air in the air conditioner are performed based on information from, for example, a navigation system. However, such an automatic control is not based on common intention of all people. For example, the above automatic control is adapted to be performed based on the average sense of all people. Therefore, a control, which corresponds to the intention of the actual occupant, may not be always performed. Therefore, in some cases, a control unsuitable for the intention of the occupant may be performed, and therefore, the occupant may feel unpleasantly.
Thus, the invention of JP-A-2000-127869 corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 6,314,352 below is suggested to solve the above disadvantages. In the automatic control system according to the invention, a control content is alarmed to an occupant beforehand. Then, an automatic control is performed for the first time when the occupant gives the permission or rejection of the execution of the alarmed control content.
However, The occupant may not answer to the inquiry from the automatic control system immediately. Also, the occupant may want to put off the answer. In the automatic control system described in JP-A-2000-127869, if the answer (response) is not provided within a predetermined time, the automatic control is forcibly performed (see paragraph “0031” in JP-A-2000-127869 corresponding to column 8 II. 1-49 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,314,352). Therefore, in a case, where the predetermined time is too long, the situation may changes, and therefore the inquiry (suggestion) in itself may become meaningless. In this case, start of the automatic control may also be delayed. Also, on the contrary, if predetermined time is too short, the occupant may have dissatisfaction saying “I intended to answer it a little bit later”.